1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mini DIN (Deutsche Industrie Normen) connector, and especially to a mini DIN connector having a reduced height above a printed circuit board and a spacer assembled to an insulative housing thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional mini DIN connector comprises a dielectric housing having a mating face. An annular recess is defined in the mating face and a circular portion extends into the recess. The circular portion defines a plurality of terminal passageways extending therethrough and receiving a plurality of terminals therein. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,637,669, 5,035,651, and 5,041,023 each disclose such a connector. When the connectors of the above-mentioned patents are mounted to printed circuit boards, the whole connectors are located above the printed circuit boards, which is undesirable in the circumstance where the heights of the components above the printed circuit board are limited.
One solution for the above issue is to provide an electrical connector which is partly located below a printed circuit board when the connector is mounted on the printed circuit board. However, the connector also has several disadvantages to overcome. First, the terminals of the connector are soldered to the printed circuit board by Surface Mounting Technology (SMT). The SMT requires expensive machine, thereby increasing the manufacturing cost of the connector. Second, the connector has no spacer for retaining the solder portions of the terminals, so the solder portions of the terminals are not positioned accurately and the electrical connecting between the printed circuit board and the connector is unreliable.
Hence, an improved electrical connector is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a mini DIN connector having a reduced height above a printed circuit board and a spacer for retaining tail portions of terminals thereof.
To achieve the above object, a mini DIN connector in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulative housing defining a plurality of terminal passageways, a plurality of terminals, an inner metallic shell, an outer metallic shell, and a spacer. Each terminal has a mating portion received in the terminal passageway, a transitional portion extending upwardly from the rear end of the mating portion, a connect portion extending rearwardly from the top end of the transitional portion and a tail portion extending downwardly from the rear end of the connect portion. The inner and the outer shells are assembled to the insulative housing. The spacer defines a plurality of horizontal grooves and vertical grooves. Each vertical groove is communicated with a corresponding horizontal groove. When the spacer is assembled to the housing, the connect portions and the tail portions of the terminals are received in the horizontal grooves and the vertical grooves of the spacer respectively, so the tail portions of the terminals can be positioned accurately.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.